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This paper aims to explore the realm of gig work and the gig economy in Romania in an attempt to shed light on the mechanisms of this type of work and the reasons and benefits of engaging in gig-related activities.Considering the low conceptual consensus on gig work, the authors aim to explore how participants in this study define and refer to gig work, thus helping to contribute to the current conceptualization and characterizations of gig work and the gig economy. Among the wide range of services encountered within the gig economy, this research focuses on three categories of tasks, as defined within COLLEEM 2018 questionnaire (see Pesole et al., 2018), namely, online creative and multimedia work, online sales and marketing support and online software development and technology work.

Based on semistructured interviews with people working in the gig economy in Romania, the authors look to understand the meaning given to gig work and its features. The authors tackle how participants in this study perceive themselves and their work. The authors also look into perceived similarities and differences with other types of independent work.

In this paper, findings are organized into two main sections. The first section showcases perceptions about working in the gig economy, including how people involved with this type of work are describing them and their activity and exploring financial insecurities in connection with the independent/gig work. The second section highlights the mechanisms of gig work on digital labor platforms, developing means and ways of reputation-building and their impact on financial earnings.

This research aims to contribute to a better understanding of the environment and needs of gig workers. Although gig economy and online work are widely covered by field literature, knowledge about the experiences and perceptions of gig workers in emerging markets has more to gain by exploring European Union developing markets.

In this study, the authors explored the situation of the doctoral candidate in the social sciences as they were confronted by crisis and forced to make changes to their dissertation research plans. The authors conceptualized this as a methodological pivot, or an unexpected shift in trajectory, in which candidates engaged and that culminated in new research plans.

Using situational analysis, a form of qualitative grounded theory, the authors conducted interviews and collected extant artifacts to understand the situations of the candidate engaged in the pivot. The analysis produced a situational map and a grounded theorizing. The authors also bound the analysis by a specific time period: the COVID-19 pandemic in the USA.

The grounded theorizing evidenced stages of pivoting, reflected as an internal process of grieving. Participants also endured external institutional impediments around programmatic support, funding and policy. Each internal and external situation exerted some degree of pressure on the candidate’s pivot. Technology and its impact on fieldwork, methodological assets and epistemological shifts mediated internal and external situations to produce the pivot.

This work is unique in that it expands on the field of study and practice that has emerged from the complexity of crisis in education, situated predominantly in lower to middle-income countries. In higher income countries, like the USA, educational institutions remain unprepared for crisis. This work underscores this paucity. The authors also build on the literature that addresses the challenges graduate learners face with support and its implications for persistence.